Name
The discoverers chose the name in honour of Empress Eugénie's son, the Prince Imperial. However, they also intended an allusion to the children's book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, which is about a prince who lives on an asteroid.
In their submission of the name to the IAU, the discovers justified the double meaning by arguing for similarities between the Prince Imperial and the Little Prince:
- "Both princes were young and adventurous, and had little fear of danger. Both were of rather small stature. They both left the confines of their cozy little worlds (asteroid B612 for the Little Prince and Chislehurst for the Prince Imperial). They both then undertook long journeys to end up in Africa, whereupon they both meet rather violent deaths ... And in both cases they lay alone for one night each after "death" and then "returned" back home..."
Read more about this topic: Petit-Prince (moon)
Famous quotes containing the word name:
“What is it? a learned man
Could give it a clumsy name.
Let him name it who can,
The beauty would be the same.”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)
“Name any name and then remember everybody you ever knew who bore than name. Are they all alike. I think so.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)